


only fools fall (for you)

by sweaterboys



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: F/M, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, poor costis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 12:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15729201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweaterboys/pseuds/sweaterboys
Summary: all 3 of them are idiots in love thanks for coming to my ted talk





	only fools fall (for you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rhombusbeast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhombusbeast/gifts).



> i'm sorry i didn't quite respond to the prompt perfectly, but my brain just kinda ran off in another direction... i hope you like it!!

Costis Ormentiedes wakes up one morning aching and in love.

This is not terribly different than how he usually wakes up, but this time the ache is not so much from the rigors of being a guard as it is from the arrow he was recently shot with.

He tries to sit up and groans. He’s lucky the arrow had only brushed him, he supposes, but it still hurts like hell. Ugh. The things he does for--

Costis is no fool. He knows that what he’s done is unforgivable, unimaginable, impossible; what he’s done will only bring him pain and suffering. Gods damn it. 

He’s gone and fallen in love with the king of Attolia.

He thinks back to last night. He’d been standing guard as the court had their dinner, watching as the king and the queen pulled everyone around them into their orbit. Attolis had gotten up to dance, and his queen had come with him. The king had murmured something in her ear as they whirled across the floor. Attolia had actually laughed, a sound as bright as the sun after a rainy day. Attolis smiled a little, not the insouciant smirk he so often wore, but something more genuine-- soft, loving. Costis had drunk in the sight of them together and felt as though his heart was about to burst. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of movement, the telltale sound, faint as it was, of a bow being drawn. 

The queen was laughing. He would have listened to the sound for all eternity, if he could have.

It had been the most natural thing in the world, then, to step in front of the arrow as it flew towards their majesties. The bowman’s aim was a little off. It might not even have hit either of them. He would still have taken the hit, a thousand times over.

Costis is in love with the king. He turns the thought over in his mind a few times, then sighs. The king will find out sooner or later; he is near-omniscient, as he is so fond of reminding everyone. There is no point in hiding it. Costis really should just find his majesty, fall on his knees, and beg forgiveness for his transgressions. He thinks about how the king might react and turns away, ashamed and ill. No, he will not confess to the king. 

He supposes that it was only a matter of time, really, before this happened. The king is… brilliant, outshining everyone around him. A mercurial, golden god-thief, and he has stolen Costis. Attolis is the sun, radiant and everlasting, and Costis, poor fool that he is, is Icarus.

He falls back asleep and does not dream.

When Costis wakes up again, he is greeted by the sight of the queen of Attolia sitting in a chair near his bed. “Your Majesty,” he flounders. What is she doing here? 

“Costis,” she says, and even his name sounds more elegant on her tongue. “You are feeling better?”

Ignoring the discomfort, he sits up straight to address her. “Much better, Your Majesty,” he says, trying to conceal how baffled he is by her presence. “The physicians are quite skilled.”

She nods, gaze never leaving his face. “You took the arrow for us,” she says, slowly.

Well, he would’ve thought that was obvious. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

“Why?”

“I… you are My Queen, Your Majesty. And he is My King.”

“Costis,” says the queen again, sounding somewhere between irritated and amused. 

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Thank you.”

He blinks. What?

Some of his confusion must have shown on his face, because she looks amused. “You saved my life. Do you not think thanks are in order?”

“It was my duty and my honor, Your Majesty,” says Costis, and he means it. She had been laughing. 

Attolia’s eyes widen a little. She opens her mouth and then closes it again, as though she is not sure what to say. He wonders why; he is telling the truth when he says he would die for her in a heartbeat.

She looks him in the eye, and it is as if she has seen right through him and into his heart. “Do you love him?” she asks.

Fear and shame wash over him. She knows, she knows, she knows. He should have known better than to think he could hide it from their majesties-- from anyone. Costis is about to die.

“Yes,” he admits, head down, voice quiet. Please, he thinks, have mercy.

Attolia looks at him, something like fondness in her eyes. “Yes?”

“Yes,” says Costis again. “I… forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“Forgive you,” she repeats. “And why would I do that?”

Her voice is soft, but she is the queen of Attolia. Costis only hopes that she will make it quick. “I,” he says, choking a little on the words, “I am in. In love. With My King.” With your husband, he does not add.  
He hears the rustle of skirts as she gets up. She moves towards his bed, but he does not tense. She is His Queen, and he has overstepped his bounds. He will take whatever punishment he gets without complaint.

And so he is speechless with shock as she leans over and kisses his forehead.

“Costis,” she says, “there is nothing to forgive.”

Perhaps, he thinks as she leaves, the king is not the only one he is in love with.

 

“Gen.”

“My love?”

“Have you been to visit him?”

“...Not yet.”

“Gen.”

“Irene?”

“Do you love him?”

“Irene.”

“Do you?”

“Don’t cut off my other hand.”

 

Costis has been back on duty for a day when the king brings him into his rooms and dismisses his attendants. Something twists in his gut. Does he know? Has the queen told him? Gods.

“Costis,” says the king cheerfully, something dancing in his eyes. “You are in love.”

He gulps. Oh, gods. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, Your Majesty.”

The king waves a hand dismissively. “Oh, I’m sure you think you’re being subtle.”

He bristles a little at the implication, more out of habit than anything else. 

Attolis chuckles a little. “My dear Costis, I am a Thief. I know everything. You have been back at my side for a day, but you’re acting differently. Honestly, there’s lovesick and then there’s you. You’re like a puppy.”

Costis doesn’t see what the king being a Thief has to do with this, but. His dear Costis. Could it be…? No. 

“So,” prompts the king. “Do I know your... sweetheart?” He wrinkles his nose a little at the last word. It does sound odd in his voice.

“I thought you knew everything,” says Costis.

“That’s cheek,” says the king, raising an eyebrow. “I definitely know them, then.”

Costis goes red and looks down at his feet, miserable. He wishes the floor would open up and swallow him so that he wouldn’t have to have this conversation.

The king watches his reaction, eyes narrowed. 

Costis stares at the floor.

“...Oh,” says the king. “Oh.” He steps closer to Costis and puts his hand under his chin. 

Costis doesn’t trust himself to speak.

The king tilts his head up with callused fingers. “Costis,” he says, not quite kind but close. “Are you in love with my wife?”

Gods, thinks the part of Costis with a death wish. For a nearly omniscient monarch, Attolis is terribly dense. 

He drops to his knees before his king and says nothing. He waits. Attolia had not punished him-- but then, the king is not Attolia.

“Get up,” says the king, sounding almost distressed. “Costis. Get up.”

He obeys, but he still can’t look the king in the eye.

“You love Irene,” says Attolis, not a question but a statement of fact.

Costis nods and looks everywhere but the king’s face. 

The king takes several steps back almost absentmindedly. When he dismisses Costis, he sounds very nearly disappointed.

 

“Irene.”

“Gen.”

“Do you love him?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. But I could.”

 

Costis is fast asleep when someone prods him on the shoulder. He wakes up with a start, grabbing for a sword that isn’t there, but he relaxes somewhat when he sees who it is.

“Oh,” he says groggily.

“Oh, indeed,” says the king of Attolia. 

Wait. Why is the king in his room?

He must have said that out loud, because Attolis smiles a little. He beckons, silently, and Costis gets up and follows him.

The king takes him through a series of passageways through the palace, and Costis is touched that the king trusts him enough to show him his secrets. He doesn’t ask where they’re going. The king, he is sure, will reveal all in due time.

Costis stops short when he sees before him the entrance to the queen’s quarters. The king puts a finger to his lips and opens the door.

Costis enters.

The queen is wearing a nightshirt, and Costis’s mind balks a little at that. She frowns, but not at him. “Gen?” she asks.

“My love,” says the king with a grin, “I’ve stolen you a guard.”

The queen arches an elegant eyebrow. “So I see. And why have you stolen me a guard?”

Costis opens his traitor mouth before the king can reply. “You can’t steal what’s already yours,” he points out. 

The king turns to him, expression fathomless. “And are you mine, Costis?” he asks quietly, meant to be teasing but somehow not. 

“Yes,” says Costis, and it’s as if a great weight has been lifted off his shoulders somehow. “Yes, I’m yours. I am yours, body and soul, and… and I have been yours ever since you made me hit you.”

“Costis,” breathes Attolis. “Costis.”

“You are My King,” says Costis, “and you are My Queen.” He turns, looking them both square in the face. If he is to go down, he will go down honestly. “I love you,” he says, and it feels as though he has ripped his chest open and shown them his heart. “Both of you.”

“You love me,” says the king, wonderingly.

“With all my heart.” It’s true.

Attolis turns to Attolia. “Irene,” he says, sounding rather sheepish. “I have been a fool.”

“Yes,” she says, not unkindly. “But so, I think, have I.”

Costis watches his monarchs and breathes in and out. No matter what happens next, he loves them. He loves them. He loves them. It is a fact as constant as his heartbeat, ringing forever in his ears.

“Costis?” 

“Yes, My King?”

“First: call me Gen,” says the-- says Gen. 

Costis nods, dumbstruck.

“Second,” continues Gen, face softening, “I love you too.”

“Oh,” says Costis, for lack of anything better to say. 

“Oh,” says Gen, smiling. “Costis?”

“Gen?”

“May I kiss you?”

“Yes,” says Costis, and he does.

**Author's Note:**

> some clarifications/rambling, because this turned out more ambiguous than i would've liked:
> 
> -costis is in love with them both but doesn't think anything's going to happen about it for, y'know, obvious reasons  
> -gen is in love with costis but is also an oblivious idiot who doesn't realize it's mutual  
> -attolia knows that the boys are in love with each other and thinks they're being cute idiots  
> -attolia isn't quite in love with costis yet (she doesn't know him as well as gen does) but she has a bit of a soft spot for him  
> -i don't think attolia rushes into anything, y'know? it took her a while to fall for gen, so i think maybe the same thing happens with costis  
> -gen is vaguely disappointed when he hears that costis is in love with irene and not him but he wants them both to be happy  
> -also he's a loser who doesn't realize how head-over-heels costis is with him  
> -i'll leave it up to your imagination why he called costis over in the middle of the night!!  
> -the all-dialogue bits are gen and irene talking privately


End file.
